Art as Imitation

Clinton Bronder

Subject: Art as Imitation

Outside reading: Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing: Introduction

April 22^nd, 2011

Art is scene as a way to create beauty all around us. We see art in libraries, our houses, and even outside. These pieces of art are present to add beauty to a scene. Art exists in less considered places too though, one of them being the human body. Clinton Sanders says, “Whether one lives in contemporary America-where approximately $5 billion spent each year on makeup and hair care products- or among the Sharanahua of Peru- where a man commonly expresses his appreciation for a woman’s beauty by saying, “ Her paint was lovely”- body painting is used to enhance attractiveness.” (Sanders, 5) By definition this is a form of art. Individuals effectively turn their skin to a canvas and apply shades of paint to make a previously dull canvas into a beautiful work of art. This is related to our class theme of the universal nature of art, that is resides almost anywhere we can consider. This may, at least in part, be due to our natural desire to decorate and beautify the world we are involved in.